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Nearly One in Five Americans Say They Can't Afford Needed Health Care

For Immediate Release: Monday, December 3, 2007

Health, United States, 2007, With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. 567 pp. (PHS) 2007-1232. GPO stock number is 017-022-01604-4. This report may be purchased from the Government Printing Office

Nearly one in five U.S. adults – more than 40 million people – report they do not have adequate access to the health care they need, according to the annual report on the nation’s health released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report, "Health, United States, 2007," is a compilation of more than 150 health tables prepared by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The report also contains a special section focusing on access to care, which shows that nearly 20 percent of adults reported that they needed and did not receive one or more of these services in the past year – medical care, prescription medicines, mental health care, dental care, or eyeglasses – because they could not afford them.

"There has been important progress made in many areas of health such as increased life expectancy and decreases in deaths from leading killers such as heart disease and cancer. But this report shows that access to health care is still an issue where we need improvement," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H.

In 2005, nearly one in 10 people between the ages of 18 and 64 said they were unable to get necessary prescription drugs during the past 12 months due to cost. Nearly 10 percent said they delayed receiving needed medical care. This report did not study the relationship between access to health care services and health outcomes.

Other major findings of the report include:

Young adults 18-24 years of age were more likely than children or older adults to lack a usual source of care and to be uninsured. About 30 percent of these young adults did not have a usual source of health care, and an equal percentage were uninsured.

One in 10 adults ages 45-64 years did not have a usual source of health care, and more than 5 percent of adults in this age group who had diagnosed high blood pressure, serious heart conditions, or diabetes reported not having a usual source of medical care.

In 2005, one out of five people under the age of 65 reported being uninsured for at least part of the 12 months prior to being interviewed. The majority of this group reported being uninsured for more than 12 months.

One in 10 women aged 45-64 years with income below the poverty level reported delaying medical care due to lack of transportation.

About one-third of all children living below the poverty level did not have a recent dental visit in 2005, compared with less than one-fifth of children with higher income.

The report features data on virtually every health topic from all stages of life, and does show a number of important gains:

In 2006, 87 percent of children age 19-35 months received three or more doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, an increase from 41 percent in 2002.

In 2001-2004, the age-adjusted percentage of adults with high blood cholesterol was 17 percent down from 21 percent in 1988-94.

In 2001-2004 about 25 percent of adults 20-64 years of age had untreated cavities, down from nearly 50 percent in 1971-74.

For more information about the latest Department of Health and Human Services initiatives proposed to provide affordable health care coverage to every American visit www.hhs.gov/everyamericaninsured.